Meet Michelle Hawk: Shaman, Healer & Mentor in Portland, Oregon & Online Worldwide
23 Years of Shamanic Practice · In Business Since 2009 · 500+ Clients Served · Hungarian & Celtic Shamanic Lineages · Master Healer Certifications · Biology Degree, Animal Behavior & Ecology · Featured on Elephant Journal, KATU & IONS
Michelle offers Shamanic Healing, Training and Spiritual Mentorship in Portland, Oregon and online worldwide.
My Path to Shamanism
Welcome, like-hearted seeker. I believe it's essential to really know your teacher before entrusting them with something as personal as your Shamanic and spiritual practice — so let me introduce myself properly.
I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and now live just outside the city on sacred forested land in the Columbia River Gorge. The Pacific Northwest is in my bones. I spend as much time as possible outside, usually accompanied by Athena, my rescue dog.
The Beginning — Childhood, Nature and Magic
As a child I was drawn to animals, nature and magic with an intensity I couldn't explain. I talked to trees. I practiced "healing spells" on my diabetic dog. I read every folk tale, mythology and heroine adventure epic I could find. The world felt alive to me in ways I later learned most people didn't experience — a perception I now understand as animistic consciousness, the foundational worldview of Shamanic practice.
Finding Shamanism (2003)
In 2003, at age 15, I took my first Shamanic training class and felt immediately, unmistakably at home. Shamanic journey work felt effortless — as if it gave me language and context for things I already knew to be true. For every one concept I learned in class, I remembered ten more from somewhere deeper.
I continued pursuing Shamanic training and workshops through my teenage years, primarily through Lakota lineage teachers, and students of Michael Harner’s school of Core Shamanism. As a teenager, I wasn't fully aware yet of the importance of knowing and honoring the lineages and especially respecting indigenous teachings and sovereignty. I am grateful for all of my teachers over the years and am committed to honoring the lineages, and practicing ethical Shamanism.
Energy Healing, Biology and the Science-Spirituality Bridge (2006–2009)
In 2006, while studying biology at the University of Puget Sound, I began formal training in energy healing — Reiki I and II, energetic anatomy and Pranic healing. My academic work and my Shamanic practice fed each other constantly. I researched hummingbird foraging behavior in Costa Rica, photographed acupuncture needles under a microscope, and proposed (unsuccessfully — my professor disagreed) a study on the effects of consciousness and energy healing on plant growth.
I was initiated as a Reiki Master in 2008. By then my intuitive and mediumship gifts were expanding rapidly. People began seeking me out for animal communication readings and energy healing sessions. In 2008 I established my practice officially, because people kept wanting to pay me for something I wanted to do anyway.
Finding My Primary Shamanic Lineage (2009)
The most significant turning point of my training came in 2009, right after graduating university, when I met my Shamanic mentor Dagmar Luenser. Under her guidance I underwent formal Shamanic initiation in 2011 and have worked in dedicated apprenticeship with her ever since. Dagmar initiated me into my primary Shamanic lineage — the Shaman clan Baksa of what is now Hungary. My additional Shamanic apprenticeship comes from the Celtic peoples and horse tribes who traveled across Europe.
These lineages are at the core of everything I teach. They are not borrowed traditions — they are my ancestral and spiritual inheritance, reclaimed through decades of dedicated study and initiation.
Building a Full Practice (2009–Present)
After graduating University I lived in Spain for a year, continuing to offer Shamanic healing and mediumship sessions remotely online while hiking, eating seafood and perfecting my Spanish. Back in the US from 2010 onward, I built my practice steadily — offering Shamanic healing, mediumship and animal communication sessions, teaching Reiki, and eventually developing my own Shamanic workshops and mentorship programs, and offering regular Shamanic events in Portland.
In 2016, Alchemy entered my practice. I leaned in, studied deeply, and by 2018 was training others. Shamanism and Alchemy are now my two core lineages — and they work together beautifully.
Today I have been studying and practicing Shamanism for over 23 years, in business as a professional practitioner since 2009, with 500+ clients served. My practice is fully integrated into my life and my identity. I am a firm believer in functional spirituality — practices that translate directly into lived experience — and I support my clients and students in building their own versions of that.
I still feel like the kid who just loves animals, magic and being outside. I hope that never changes.
Thank you for joining me here! If you're ready to explore what kind of support is right for your journey, book a consultation call here.
Many blessings,
Michelle Hawk
“I was called to learn shamanic practices and fully step into my own gifts as a healer. It has been an honor and joy to work with Michelle for 1 on 1 mentoring because I feel supported and comfortable in my own skin with her. Along with her healer talents she is skillful with meeting me where I am at and supporting me so that I have learned to navigate my own landscape. The work I have done with Michelle will continue to ripple throughout my life, supporting me and everyone around me.
1 on 1 mentoring helped me connect deeply with all parts of my being which has led to healing deep wounds that I hadn’t been able to access before working with Michelle. There is a confidence and peace and freedom with knowing I can support my own healing work which I will be able to share with others in their own healing journey.
Michelle carefully and lovingly builds scaffolding and applies training wheels to build a foundation and momentum, and before I know it I’m cruising down the path of my own volition. That has been one of the most powerful gifts of working with Michelle and I’m getting the results that I’ve been looking for for years. I now have powerful tools and practices to help others with their healing journey.
Michelle lives what she teaches and her life is a model of being true to herself and universal core truths which makes her teachings relatable and accessible.”
I AM...
A SHAMAN
I walk in both worlds — Earth and Spirit — and carry the wisdom of the ancestors. Initiated into the Hungarian Shaman clan Baksa lineage and the Celtic Shamanic tradition, I have practiced Shamanism for over 23 years. I guide you to attune to the power of your own lineages, develop your relationship with the spirit realm, and come into right relation with the living Earth. Learn more about Shamanic training →
A HEALER
As a Shamanic healer and certified Master Healer, I collaborate with powerful spiritual forces to help you liberate energetic blockages, retrieve lost soul fragments, clear ancestral wounds and return to the full vitality of your eternal spirit. Shamanic healing sessions are available in person in Portland, Oregon and online worldwide. Learn more about Shamanic healing →
A MENTOR
I offer 1:1 Shamanic mentorship and spiritual coaching for healers, practitioners and spiritual seekers ready to awaken their authentic gifts and step into grounded mastery. I guide you to develop powerful Shamanic skills, understand and integrate your spiritual initiations, and build a practice that is rooted, ethical and uniquely yours. Learn more about Shamanic mentorship →
AN ALCHEMIST
Alchemy is the art of conscious transformation — the process of turning lead into gold, shadow into light, wounding into wisdom. I was initiated into Western Hermetic Alchemy in 2016 and have been training others since 2018. I guide you through your own Alchemical process so that you may step into the true gold of an awakened soul.
Michelle Hawk — Official Bio
Shaman, Alchemist, Healer, Mentor
Michelle Hawk is a Shamanic healer, mentor and teacher based in Portland, Oregon, with over 23 years of Shamanic study and practice. She began her Shamanic journey at age 15 and has trained under dedicated apprenticeship since 2009, holding initiations in the Hungarian Shaman clan Baksa lineage and the Celtic Shamanic tradition.
A naturally gifted psychic, intuitive channel and medium, Michelle holds multiple Master Healer certifications and has served 500+ clients since establishing her professional practice in 2009. Her work integrates Shamanic healing, Alchemy, mediumship, somatic practice and sacred ecology into a distinctive multi-lineage approach she calls Universal Shamanism — a framework for practicing Shamanism with integrity, depth and genuine ancestral connection in the modern Western world.
Michelle mentors and trains Shamanic practitioners, healers and spiritual seekers through 1:1 Shamanic mentorship, individual healing sessions and the Foundations of Shamanism — her signature 11-week live online Shamanic training course, open to students worldwide.
Scientist and Communicator
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Puget Sound, specializing in animal behavior and ecology, with additional studies in Spanish. Her scientific background gives her a working fluency in anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and biochemistry — allowing her to collaborate effectively with primary care physicians, bodyworkers and naturopaths in support of integrative treatment plans. Her fluency in Spanish enables her to serve ESL and Spanish-speaking clients and students.
The intersection of scientific ecology and Shamanic practice is not incidental to Michelle's work — it is central to it. Her Biology degree informs her Sacred Ecology curriculum in the Foundations of Shamanism course, grounding students' Shamanic practice in the actual ecosystems they inhabit.
Portland, Oregon & Online Worldwide
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Michelle now lives on sacred forested land in the Columbia River Gorge. She offers in-person Shamanic healing and mentorship sessions to clients in the Portland metro area, and works with students and clients throughout the United States and worldwide via Zoom. Distance is not a barrier to this work.
Michelle has been featured as a keynote speaker at Embrace Festival, the Superwoman Summit and the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and as a contributing author to Elephant Journal. She is co-host of the Shaman Sister Sessions podcast.
Ready to work together? Book a consultation call →
Michelle Hawk Training & Certification Timeline
Michelle Hawk has been studying and practicing Shamanism since 2003 and under dedicated Shamanic apprenticeship since 2009. Her training spans Hungarian and Celtic Shamanic lineages, Western Hermetic & Taoist Alchemy, energy healing, somatic practice, plant medicine, sacred ecology and more. Here is a snapshot of her training journey:
2025
Began Rewilding Leadership and Community Resilience certification training with Jess Caldwell and Lindsay James.
Songs of the Bronze Age and Proto-Celtic Bone Language study with Carolyn Hillyer, and ongoing self-study.
Shamanic Healing and Mediumship intensives with Kuntanawa nation.
2023
Began Amazonian vegetalismo (plant medicine) apprenticeship with Curandero Todji, ongoing.
Shamanic Healing and Mediumship intensive with Bixku, Biruany and Nawa Sia Huni Kuin.
2022
The Emerald Path training in Celtic Avalonian Druid Shamanism with Holly Hamilton.
Songs of Mother Europe course in ancestral wisdom with Hanna Leigh and various guest teachers.
Creating Safer Space intensive training with Robin Divine.
Deep Rest & Recovery Skills training with Larissa Conte.
Sacred Talismans course with Katherine Bird.
2021
Magic & The Behenian Stars alchemical astrology course with Cayelin Castell and Erik Roth.
Morgana Devotional Avalonian Wisdom mentorship with Holly Hamilton.
2020
How to Target the Limbic System to Reverse Trauma’s Physiological Imprint course, NICAMB (National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine).
Unlearning White Supremacy course with Mira Alexander.
2019
Avalonian Priestess Pilgrimage with Holly Hamilton.
Dragon Initiation #2.
Began study of Alchemical herbalism and wildcrafting. Ongoing support from various plant medicine mentors, and self-study.
Intuitive Speaking intensive with Danielle Louise Ross.
Retreat Confidence Incubator with Darla LeDoux.
2018
Confident Facilitator Training with M. B. Williams and Warren Scholls.
Awaken Your Practice training with Andrea Leda.
Medical Qigong intensive with David Beaudry.
2017
Dragon Initiation #1.
Spiritual and Dragon mentorship with Katherine Gerardi.
Began practice of Qigong with teachers Ryan Powell, Jake Grieco, ongoing support from Katherine Bird and self-study.
Plant medicine and mediumship study with Kai Karrel.
2016
Alchemy Initiation.
Began study of Western Hermetic Alchemy philosophy and practice. Ongoing. Support from various mentors and self study.
2015
Movement Practice and Somatic Healing Techniques training with Katherine Bird.
Eagle Dance training with Sweet Medicine Sundance path.
2014
Began study of Shamanic Astrology, mentorship from Brett Joseph and self-study.
Began study of Music for Transformational Movement with Genia and Tia Zilberstein.
2013
Began study of Movement as Medicine, Conscious Embodiment and Shamanic Dance. Many workshop facilitators, events and retreats.
2012
Solfeggio Sound Healing Level I and II certification with Rosemary Levesque.
2011
Shamanic Initiation from Dagmar Luenser, Clan Baksa lineage.
2010
Karuna Reiki Master Teacher certification from Rosemary Levesque.
Began study of sacred geometry and healing symbols.
2009
Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from University of Puget Sound.
Began Shamanic apprenticeship with Dagmar Luenser, Clan Baksa lineage of Hungarian Shamanism. Ongoing.
2008
Usui Tibetan Reiki Master Teacher certification from Rosemary Levesque.
Animal Communication training course with Karen Anderson.
2007
Undergraduate research in hummingbird foraging behavior and ecology at the biological station in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
2006
Usui Reiki I and Usui Reiki II certification from Sheila King.
2005 - 2007
Energy healing and psychic mentorship from Linda Piersee.
2003 - 2009
Shamanic journey classes, introductory Shamanic workshops, various teachers and lineages including Elyse Star Hunter of the Lakota lineage.
23 years of training. 500+ clients served. One question: What would it mean for your life to work with someone who has walked this path with this depth of commitment? Let's find out together →
